Page 39 of Bad Witch

But it was too late to worry about that now. Plastering a smile on my face, I knocked. A moment later, footsteps came from the other side of the door, a lock disengaged, and the door was pulled wide.

A plump female with graying hair and shrewd brown eyes took us in. She looked to be in her late sixties, if I had to guess, and her smile was guarded as she greeted us. “How may I help you?” She looked at Fender, and the smile slipped a little, then dipped to what he held in his arms, and the smile vanished completely.

“I am here to see Aradina Stonebridge. I have something for her. Something I think she’ll want.”

The older woman’s eyes widened. “I’ll ah…need to check she’s in.”

“That would be most appreciated,” I said.

She shut the door and left us standing on the doorstep. I glanced back at Fender. He raised a brow. I shrugged.

The door opened again, and I spun back. A tall, stunningly beautiful female with thick sandy-colored hair streaked with blond stood in front of me. Her wide hazel eyes slid down my body and back, and she pursed her full lips before planting a hand, fingers covered in gold rings, on her hip. “I don’t know you,” she said to me, then lifted her gaze to Fender, and her eyes flared. She straightened, and a smile instantly curved her lips. “But I do know you.”

I forced myself to smile as well. “I’m Tempest and…you obviously know Fender?” Was she a friend of Willow’s? That would make the most sense.

“I know several hellhounds, very well.”

Fender grunted.

Aradina tilted her head to the side. “It’s good to see you again.”

He grunted again, and this time it was more of a growl.

She laughed, high-pitched and without real humor, and I hated to say it, but it was kind of annoying. She was studying him, and he was staring back with a stony expression. I looked between them, confused. I had no idea what was going on, but I was here for a reason and I needed to get to it. I had a shift at the clinic later today, and I wanted to get home and feed my babies. I also desperately needed a shower and a power nap before work.

I cleared my throat because I’d been completely forgotten. Aradina only had eyes for Fender.

“Miss Stonebridge?”

She continued to ignore me.

“Aradina?” I said too loudly and inwardly winced. “We’re here to give you⁠—”

“What?” she said, finally looking down at me. “What did you say?”

“We’re here to give you something, well, someone who belongs to your coven.”

“What are you talking about?”

I motioned to Brigid’s carefully wrapped body. “This may be painful, but I hope it will also give you some peace,” I said. “We found Brigid’s body deep in the blue cliffs. She wanted me to bring her home to her coven, to rest with her sisters.”

Aradina’s gaze snapped from me, back to what Fender carried, and her eyes widened. “You found her?” she said and clapped her hands together with another shrill laugh. “Bring her in, oh yes, bring her in.”

She stepped back and we followed.

“This way.” She strode across a grand entrance and through doors at the back of the house while she tapped rapidly on her phone. She led us to a large greenhouse, filled with plants and bathed in warm sunlight. There was a potting table in the center, and she waved a hand at it. “Put her there.”

“Do you have something we could put down first?” The table was covered in dirt and compost and the gods only knew what else.

“What? Why?”

“It’s a little dirty.”

She shrugged an elegant shoulder. “It’s fine.”

It wasn’t fine. Brigid should be treated with the utmost ceremony and reverence. One of coven Stonebridge’s elders, a priestess, was coming home after being lost for so long. This wasn’t right. I rushed forward and swiped the dirt off with my sleeve. It wasn’t my place to tell Aradina that she was being disrespectful, but I really, really wanted to.

Her gaze sharpened as she watched me. I should feel bad for shaming her this way, but I didn’t. Brigid had longed to be returned here, to be with her coven and her sisters again, and Aradina was not behaving in a solemn manner like the occasion dictated. No, she was on her phone texting and eyeing Fender like a juicy steak meal.